Michel Tuffery

The life cycle of Mahina

09 - 30 August 24

Opening night:
Friday 9th August, 5pm – 7pm

This all began locally, during an Artist in Residence at St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, at the beginning of 2024. Having recently moved my studio north of Wellington to Upper Hutt, I’d been familiarizing myself with the area and history. At the front of the College there is one significant Pou amongst several, a marker to the original settlement which the woodcut print “Te Kāeaea / Taringa Kurī - Listening to the Stream - Tuna, Ngāti Tama” visually narrates, binding the past to the now. This Pou was the conversation starter with my students and colleagues as very few knew the meaning behind the carving, leading to a focused study on the history and environment, we began looking at the synergies and how are they relevant today, stimulating a wider assessment of the ‘Awa to Moana’ sustainability, migration, and habitat.

I’ve woven together environments, species and form in a mix of markings, materialities and processes. A storyboard to how “everything is connected” just as the Tuna transition to Tonga and return to Aotearoa.

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